At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This movie is such an under rated gem. Great writing and great cast. From one of the producers of Dumb and Dumber, it totally works as a comedy. Very fun. It's a little over the top, but very funny. Great for a Friday or Saturday night with the guys. I just found my favorite movie!

8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997): Dir: Tom Shulman / Cast: Andy Cameau, Joe Pesci, Kristy Swanson, George Hamilton, Dyan Cannon: This film couldn't be any worse if it was scribbled on toilet paper. Catchy title but for what extent? That there are sick people out there? For whatever reason Joe Pesci must deliver eight heads in a duffel bag to his boss but on a plane the bag gets in the possession of Andy Cameau who is on his way to Mexico to see his girlfriend and meet her parents. Pesci tortures two of Cameau's college buddies while Cameau and his girlfriend deal with the eight heads. Plot boils down to chasing about eight heads and attempting to replace them. Director Tom Shulman seems to be quoting from old style comedies but fails to provide a payoff. A dream sequence involving singing heads is inventive but perhaps another director could have brought greater substance to it. Pesci is a capable actor but his satire take on his gangster roles are hardly inspiring here, and the ending painting him as some sort of nice guy is revolting. Andy Cameau is embarrassing as he and his girlfriend, played by Kristy Swanson run about aimlessly to solve this sick dilemma. George Hamilton and Dyan Cannon play her parents and this is a major step down in their once flourishing careers. Pointless screenplay should be placed in a duffel bag and lit on fire. Score: 1 / 10

A mob bagman (Joe Pesci) finds that his luggage, containing the proof of his latest hit, has been switched.This was a nice departure for David Spade, stepping away from "Saturday Night Live", though still staying within comedy. Not his best work, but also probably not his fault. As a whole, the movie never really takes off the way it should.The exception is an awesome dream sequence, perhaps one of the better dream sequences ever filmed. Sadly, this one minute is the very best -- the rest of the film does not live up to the great title. Overall, it is quite tame on the violence and gore for the subject matter. If the same story was done without it being comedy, who knows how great this might have been?

Eventually, one of the bigger flaws of "8 Heads In A Duffel Bag" will strike viewers. They will ask themselves, "Why does the tone of the movie keep changing?" Sometimes the movie is a goofy comedy. Sometimes it's high-energy farce. Sometimes (actually, most of the time), the movie's tone is kind of flat. I'm not sure why the tone kept changing. Maybe it was a consequence of the lower budget - although the movie never looks seriously cheap, it has the appearance of being hastily shot with not much thought put through it. (And while most of the movie is set in Mexico, it's pretty obvious that it was not shot there.) However, even if a more consistent tone had been generated, the movie would still suffer from a screenplay with a number of flaws. Although Pesci's character has a deadline, he obviously goes past this deadline with no consequences. The movie keeps dropping plot elements and bringing them back after a long time has passed. There are plot holes, and the last third of the movie, when all the characters are together, becomes somewhat confusing.I will admit that I did laugh a few times, mostly at Pesci's behavior and one-liners. And it's nice to see George Hamilton in a major studio movie again, though he is mostly wasted. But while the movie's flaws didn't aggravate me greatly, at the end I muttered "ehhhh" to the 95 minutes I had just watched.